Memorial Stadium’s Columns Club Renamed In Honor of Walsworth Family
9/20/2018 11:04:00 AM | General
Don and Audrey Walsworth Make $10 Million Contribution to Mizzou Athletics.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri System Board of Curators unanimously voted to rename Memorial Stadium's Columns Club the Walsworth Family Columns Club in honor of the Marceline, Mo., family's generous $10M gift that will go toward Mizzou Athletics' South End Zone Facility currently under construction at Faurot Field, and future department projects.
"Don and Audrey have been incredibly generous and loyal to the University and in particular, Mizzou Athletics, and we are eternally grateful for their unwavering and passionate support," said Mizzou Director of Athletics Jim Sterk. "On top of their annual contributions to Mizzou Athletics, this is the third transformational gift that the Walsworths' have given to ensure that our student-athletes enjoy continued academic and athletic success.
"Mizzou Athletics enjoys great momentum and we deeply appreciate all of the donors who have stepped forward in support of making the South End Zone Facility a reality for our student-athletes, staff and fans. This is a project that will benefit all of our programs in some fashion when it comes on-line next year," he added.
The Walsworth Family Columns Club, located within Memorial Stadium's East tower, opened in August 2014. The large premium space affords beautiful views of Faurot Field and the Mizzou campus, and is used not only on game days by Tiger Scholarship Fund members, but year-around for large banquets, wedding receptions and meetings.
Don Walsworth, a 1957 graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Science degree in education, is the Chief Executive Officer of Walsworth, an 80-year-old family-owned company that ranks as the nation's 26th-largest printing company and among the top four yearbook publishers. Among the many honors Don has received throughout his distinguished career includes a six-year appointment to the University of Missouri's System Board of Curators, which included a stint as its Chair. Audrey Walsworth is a 1956 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
All-told, the Walsworth family has contributed more than $25M to Mizzou Athletics.
Thanks in part to outstanding support from over 7,000 TSF members, Mizzou student-athletes continued to thrive academically and athletically during the recently completed academic year.
In the classroom, 269 Mizzou student-athletes received 2017-18 SEC Honor Roll recognition, 332 garnered University Dean's List status for at least one semester and 13 teams registered a 3.00 grade-point average for the Spring 2018 semester. In addition, Mizzou student-athletes spent over 4,400 hours volunteering with 55 organizations in Columbia and surrounding Mid-Missouri communities.
Mizzou, which has registered its highest finish ever in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings the past two years with its back-to-back finishes of 33rd in both 2016-17 and 2017-18, won a pair of conference team championships (wrestling), had 17 of 20 teams represented in NCAA postseason play, and produced Top 25 NCAA Championship finishes during the recently-completed academic year in wrestling (sixth), women's indoor track & field (ninth), women's outdoor track & field (11th), women's swimming and diving (15th), volleyball (Sweet 16) and men's swimming and diving (23rd). The 2017-18 academic year also marked the first time since 1981-82 that Mizzou Football played in a bowl game and both Tiger Basketball teams reached the NCAA Tournament in the same year.
In addition, Track & Field standout Karissa Schweizer (3,000m and 5,000m at the NCAA Indoor Championships; 5,000m at NCAA Outdoor Championships) captured three more NCAA individual titles as a senior and finished her collegiate career with six national championships. Mizzou also produced five season-ending conference award winners, 14 individual conference champions, 53 All-Conference award winners and 40 All-America honors in 10 different sports.
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